Life and Death
by BlueFlaw
Summary: Natsu dies to kill Zeref. He succeeds and wins the war... but will the war really be over? With Fairy Tail in depression and the whole continent in scars, who will brighten up the spirit? It can't be someone already dead, right?
1. Death

**Chapter One: Death**

The Fairy Tail guild hall was in crumbles. No one really paid any attention to it because it always happened. The only people who were really upset about the building's damage was Makarov - who only wept tears for how much money the repairs would cost and the men who had to rebuild it for what seemed like the fifth time.

Ishgar was an empty battlefield. The innocent civilians hid in designated areas with plenty supplies for life. The wizards who fought this horrible war were either immobile on the ground grinning because they had beat the Spriggan and soldiers, or staring sadly at their companions' lifeless bodies. Ishgar had defended itself from the Alvarez attack but to a grand cost. So many people died on both sides; it's hard to tell if any side won.

The war was almost over. The last opponent: Zeref.

After this bloody war, no one had the strength nor energy to locate and kill Zeref, if it was even possible to kill an immortal.

But Fairy Tail believed that Natsu would overcome Zeref and defeat him. That he would come back to the guild alive, and Happy would be there too and he would burst into the remains of their guild crying tears of joy. When Warren could recover to be able to use his magic again, he'll broadcast to everyone in Ishgar that they had won. They waited until the moment when Natsu and Happy would come back with a subdued Zeref, no matter how long it took.

They would believe.

* * *

At a secluded pond, a pink haired mage panted heavily as he attacked the black mage with all his magic.

Zeref the black mage stood there nonchalantly as he knew the pink haired mage, known as Natsu, no longer had the magic that would be able to destroy him.

Happy was unconscious by a tree, tears stained on his face. "Natsu, don't die…" he whispered in his dream.

Natsu's ears twitched when he heard his best friend's cry, but that didn't stop him from attacking. Natsu was doing this for the safety of his friends, there's no way he would let them down.

" **Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!** " he yelled. Flames and electricity wrapped around him as he swung his arms full of destructive power at Zeref.

A giant ray of fire and lightning exploded towards Zeref. After the attack, Natsu collapsed on one knee with a pale face.

When the lightning and fire dispersed into nothingness, Zeref stood in the middle of the damage, trees and earth incinerated around him.

Zeref smiled, "You can't win."

Natsu laughed feebly. "Just watch me." He struggled to stand up on his own two feet. Most of his magic was drained and his injuries were horrific.

"Natsu, either you're going to kill me which is going to kill yourself too, or you're going to die of those injuries. Either way, you're going to die, and how can you win a battle with you dead?" Zeref frowned. He knew most of his army was dead by now. There wasn't any further point of continuing this war if he had no army. And he himself couldn't die if Natsu no longer held the power to destroy him. The future might get complicated if things just stood like this.

Natsu wobbled as he finally managed to walk again. He didn't take notice to Zeref who wasn't taunting him anymore.

Step by step, he got closer to Zeref. He knew he only had little power for only one more attack. A very weak attack.

"I am not alone," he started reciting the words from when he fought Zero and his fist lit on embers. "I can hear them... I can hear everyone's voices... I can sense everyone's feelings…"

He remembered when he stopped Gray and Erza from killing themselves and that he was going to do the same. Sorry... "I am not alone... Everyone's feelings... They support me... They are what give me the will to stand and fight!"

Zeref stood still as he knew this attack would do nothing. This attack would only destroy his brother's second life. "Goodbye Natsu."

Natsu screamed as he threw his fist at Zeref. He was too tired to not feel that there was a slight change in his magic.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu gave his final roar.

Happy suddenly woke up and saw Natsu's magic make contact with Zeref. He felt there was something different about Natsu's magic. It was more pure. The feeling made Happy feel uneasy. "NAAAAATSUUUUUU!"

Natsu's fist collided with Zeref's face.

Zeref immediately recognized that the was an outside force within Natsu's magic.

"Ankhseram…" he whispered as he felt something dark leave his body when Natsu's fist hit him.

Zeref stumbled back and Natsu collapsed onto him, unconscious. The punch didn't hurt at all, it felt more like a playful punch between brothers. It made Zeref smile in a joyful way; something he hadn't done in a long time.

Happy flew at Natsu and screamed at him to wake up. Natsu didn't show any sign of reaction and instead just lied on Zeref. A few seconds past and both Natsu and Zeref started to glow.

"What's happening?" Happy cried as he tugged Natsu's scarf. Happy looked at Zeref through his teary eyes for an answer.

Zeref hesitated before he answered. "I think… Natsu just killed me… by somehow breaking my curse."

Happy sobbed, "Then why are you still conscious?" He paused and looked at his best friend. "No, Natsu, you can't die! Please!"

Zeref pondered on Happy's question. 'Maybe I am to disappear with no trace left and I'm only living the last moments of my life before my existence is completely erased. And if I die, he'll die too,' Zeref thought, as he patted Natsu's head. "Good job."

But Zeref grimaced at the thought that Natsu would be dead while he still had friends here, in this world. Friends that care about him. Friends that he risked his life for...

Happy dug his face in Natsu's scarf. Sobbing like there was no tomorrow. "Natsuu…" he cried. Natsu's body started glowing more. "Don't go... Don't..."

Zeref decided to leave information to Happy as he could start feeling lightheaded. "I can't believe this is all over. And Acnologia didn't decide to show up even after the nice declaration of war I sent him."

Happy stopped sobbing when he heard the word Acnologia. Acnologia, the dragon who usually shows up after Zeref makes an appearance. This only made Happy cry more.

"Stop crying Happy..." Happy perked up to the sound of his pink haired friend's hoarse voice.

"Natsu!"

Natsu didn't make an effort to move. He only opened his eyes to see Happy one last time. "Tell everyone… We won…"

"Natsu, noo! We can't win with you gone. You can't die. You're not supposed to die! Especially not by some cruel twisted fate you have with Zeref! Please!"

Happy's eyes welled up even more as he was shakily grabbing Natsu's scarf _. "_ Please! _" It's not the goodbyes that hurt, it's the flashbacks that follow..._

"Thank you... everyone..." his voice, like a dying ember.

Natsu smiled softly. _All living things eventually die, it's unavoidable. But as long as you remember it will live on in your heart forever._

The glow enveloped the forms of Natsu and Zeref until it slowly faded away.

Into the sky.

Into the afterlife.

With one last message.

…

The sky was so blue. It was so happy. It was so much like the cat, but in no way was the cat happy.

Happy cried alone as he raged at the sky who took away his best friend.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A cry, heard in Heaven and Hell.

Suddenly a book fell on him.

The book of E.N.D.

A God's Blessing of Life.

A Devil's Curse of Fate.

* * *

 **A/N Is this confusing? I can't exactly write clearly xD It would help if you pointed out any confusing parts.**

 **Editing this with the sad music from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of the Sky. Oh man, the feels in that game :' ) I will edit this chapter more in the future maybe... or maybe not, depends on laziness.  
**

 **Yeah I'm updating a chapter from 10 months ago, must be a sign of something huh...**

 **Oh and Sorry, I'm going to restart the story because I just want to continue it but this time I'm won't write as I post. So if you liked the story after this chapter, sorry... But I'm pretty sure it'll be better. (I just have to find a way to put comic relief :P) (Be warned, I'm going to delete the chapters after this, in order to make better chapters - Because I think I got better at writing :P)  
**

 **But it's been like 8 months since last update so I'm sure no one cares :P**

 **Why did I just write all that stuff? I'm too lazy to redo everything so I'll just leave everything as is... This was my first story after all XD**


	2. Tears

Chapter 2 Tears

Happy flew to Magnolia, where the Fairy Tail mages were waiting for his return. How none of them knew that Happy would return _alone._

The mages set up a small infirmary camp nearby the guild. It was busy, with Wendy and Porlyusica running around tending to the many injured. Porlyusica was busy ordering the rowdy group while Wendy sweatdropped followed the pink old lady's orders.

Meanwhile, the healed were already working on fixing the guild building.

Happy greeted everyone whilst hiding his emotions successfully. "Hey, where's the rest of team Natsu?

Happy stopped in front of Makarov who gave him a smile. "Welcome back Happy. If you're looking for them, they're out there looking for you and Natsu. But looks like you came back all fine."

Makarov noticed the lack of Natsu' presence and Happy's stiffness to when he heard the name 'Natsu,' but the old man decided not to comment.

Happy stayed in the middle of the building in progress, tightly clutching the book of E.N.D and holding it so the title could not be read. The other members quickly pieced together that something went wrong. A Happy sobbing and a missing Natsu was not good.

The moon soon rose up to the middle of the sky when Gray walked in. He wore a look of disappointment. Gray just stared down at his feet when he reported to the guild master that neither Natsu nor Happy were found. His eyes looked like they were about to tear up.

"Look up brat." Said Makarov and pointed to Happy.

Gray did just as told and saw Happy. "You're okay!" He gasped in relief. He looked around as if he was expecting to see a certain pink haired dragonslayer. "... Where's Natsu?"

The question that shot a poison filled arrow through Happy's heart. "Where's Natsu?" The question rang in Happy's head a million times. Where. Is. Natsu?

The poor blue cat couldn't hold it anymore until the tears crashed down his cheeks like a waterfall. "N-Natsu… he's.."

The guild members who were present leaned in closer to hear Happy.

"Dead."

" What?" Everyone whispered simultaneously.

"He's DEAD! Don't make me repeat it!" Happy fell over and cried until he blacked out. Why did he have to die like this...

The guild members froze and we're sent into deep thinking. Natsu is... dead? The stronger mages held in their sorrow but quickly walked away into empty rooms. As for everyone else, it took a while for them to digest the news and cry a bit.

Gray snapped out of his sorrow when he saw the book Happy was clutching so dearly to.

Happy woke up on an infirmary bed without the book of E.N.D in his paws. A soft voice alerted him.

"Hey."

Happy jerked up and saw Lucy was sitting next to him. " I heard the news… about Natsu."

His name again. Happy would cry again but it wouldn't do anyone any good to sit there and cry everyday. "Aye…" he answered solemnly.

Lucy's eyes were shadowed by her blonde hair. "You know… you can come to me if you need to cry on someone's shoulder." Happy shook his head to refuse. "Good" said Lucy. She went over to Happy and cried next to him nonstop.

"That idiot. Leaving us again." Lucy quickly recovered and went into her own thoughts. "Why?"

Suddenly, Gajeel burst into the room shouting "Where's the Salamander? I'm going to kill him for dying!" He subconsciously roared iron everywhere.

Then Erza popped in and knocked Gajeel down effortlessly, despite wearing bandages all over her body and using crutches."Who killed him? I'm going to kill the guy who stole Natsu's life!" For a moment there was light shining down on Erza's face. She waved a sword around and Lucy and Happy were freaking out that they were going to get feeling.

Gajeel got up and growled "Oi knight…"

But then Porlyusica entered and bonked on both Erza's and Gajeel's heads. "The injured should rest. And I'll kill anyone who disrupts these injured people."

And then Gray decided to come in and yell "Happy!"

Porlyusica smacked Gray with a broom which apparently hurt a lot. She waited five more minutes to see if anyone else would intrude in the room. Nobody else entered, probably due to the fear of the old healer. Porlyusica sighed. "Stupid humans." And she left.

Gray rubbed his head, before showing Happy the book of E.N.D. "How did you get this?"

Happy panicked and snatched the book away from Gray. "Don't destroy it!" The group was surprised at Happy's reaction to the book. Normally one would go all for destroying one of Zeref's demons, especially a powerful one like E.N.D.

"Don't worry, I would've destroyed it yesterday if I was planning on destroying it. But this book gives me an odd feeling… The fact that you have it must mean it's out of Zeref's hands. And I want answers before I erase it from the face of Earthland."

Happy sniffed. Lucy rose her head and put a hand on Happy's head. "We're still your family, you can tell us what happened."

"Zeref is dead." Happy stated with a slight stutter.

"Oi, then did Salamander give up his life to kill Zeref?"

"..."

Both Erza and Gray stiffened. The very person who told them to not die, but to live for their friends, has done exactly what he told them not to do.

"He said it was the only way." Happy teared up again.

"What do you mean it was the only way? Natsu always finds another way!" Lucy argued, tears streaming down her face. He changed everyone's future, except his own...

"I don't know. All I know is that it was all due to some horrible fate with Zeref!."

Happy lowered his head. He felt overwhelmed by the barrage of questions.

"So why shouldn't we destroy E.N.D?" Gray asked.

Happy looked down and didn't respond. This is the only thing I have left of Natsu… and I don't want the others to think that Natsu was a demon.

"Just don't do anything with this book."

Everyone except Happy looked at each other confusedly. What was the secret of the book, and why does Happy care so much for it?

Everyone looked down at the floor, the atmosphere was gloomy. How could they move on without the pink haired mage?

Night fell again and remnants of team Natsu slept in Lucy's room. Happy slept peacefully in Lucy's bed with the book of E.N.D resting beside him. Lucy felt a bit annoyed that her room was invaded again, but she couldn't help it. Everyone was depressed that Natsu was gone. Forever.

Once everyone fell asleep, a shadow jumped in through the open window. It stood still in the room, looking at everyone's sleeping figures, until it swiped the book of E.N.D into its hands and left silently.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Pink Haired Mage

Okay no more crying for now. I don't have anymore tears to write another sad story with.


	3. The Pink Haired Mage

Chapter 3 The Pink Haired Mage

A year later, the country started to get back into shape again. The Ten Wizard Saints and the remnants of the Alvarez empire made a peace treaty. They learned that this war was completely Emperor Spriggan's idea, but the country was all for war with Ishgar. But now with no leader, the country is completely going downhill. There was no leader who could lead the country at the time and Ishgar was still bitter after the war.

The mage guilds finally overcame their losses, but Crocus still decided to hold their annual Grand Magic Games.

* * *

~Fairy Tail~

The newly built guid hall was quiet. Mirajane stood behind the bar with Lisanna. Makarov was on the second floor, overlooking the first floor of the guildhall. Happy was napping on one of the tables and Nab was standing in front of the Notice Board. No one else was present and the guild was silent for once.

Laxus was off at a guild master's meeting and the rest were… well they were off preparing for the S-Class exam. Only one minute had the Guildhall experience peace. The next minute, a stampede of Fairy Tail mages rushed in and waved multiple completed mission sheets to Mirajane and Lissana. So quickly had the mages started to push one another and get into brawls. Surprisingly, the brawls ended quickly when they all realized that the race to S-Class Mage was still going on.

Just before Erza entered to stop the fights in a blind rage, each mage rushed off in search to complete new missions.

Nab sighed. "And just when I finally found the right mission...:"

Lisanna gave Nab a beer bottle. "Yeah right." She said sarcastically while smiling happily.

Erza found herself surprised as she wasn't able to scold anyone. She scratched her scarlet hair as she the Raijinshuu walk past her.

"Off on another mission?" questioned the redhead.

"Like everyone else." Freed waved her off and the trio left.

Erza crossed her arms and felt quite disappointed that she wasn't able to issue her weekly scolding. She walked over to Happy's table and took out her prized strawberry cake. She was enjoying the sweet flavor of the cake when she caught Makarov's glance.

"Must be nice not having the stress of guildmaster anymore, 8th" Erza stated as she sliced a piece of her cake.

"Ah, I don't have to worry about paying everything anymore, 7th. I'm free now that Laxus is guildmaster." He looked like an idiot when he grinned in his jester outfit.

Erza smiled. "Please don't call me that." She knew Laxus was sure to shove all debt on to the shoulders of former master Makarov and just shrug it off. She looked at Happy who was sleeping quietly on the table. The cat was probably dreaming of Natsu again, not that she could blame him or anything. Everyone was still mourning over the loss of the pink haired dragonslayer, they were just using the S-Class Exam to distract themselves.

She was about to nom down the last of her cake when the doors bursted open and a man flew past her and crashed into one of tables. The man was fully cloaked, the only noticeable feature of the man that could be seen was his squinty eyes. He obviously seemed irritated. But Happy seemed more irritated when he was rudely awakened by the loud crash.

Gray and Gajeel stood at the entrance with the stance of the aftermath of s kick. They each had tick marks everywhere. Levy appeared too, with sweatdrops.

The cloaked man let out a groan. Erza quickly smashed the two raven haired boys to the ground. Finally, this was her chance to finally let out her anger at her guildmates.

"What do you think you're doing, kicking a random man into this guild. You are hurting this guild's reputation by throwing innocent civilians around." She gave them the devil's look while holding swords by each of their necks.

"Erza seems more violent than ever." Levy commented fearfully.

While Gajeel and Gray were being pounded by Titania, the cloaked man stood up. Erza suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of the man.

"And who said you could leave?" Erza yelled while smaking the poor random guy. She glared daggers at Gray and Gajeel. "Why did you harm this random person?"

The boys replied at the same time. "I don't know… I just got annoyed at that guy's presence." They glared at eachother for saying the same thing.

Erza felt a small chill go up her spine. She felt more annoyed than she was. Without thinking, Erza grabbed the guy's arm and threw him out the ceiling. Gray cringed and said "poor random guy."

Levy sighed "Poor random guy indeed…"

Gajeel laughed "Knight, so you also felt annoyed at that guy too."

Erza pondered a bit. "I guess I was…"

Happy finally spoke chirpily "It's because he smelt like fish!"

Pantherlily jumped on to Happy's table. "I think you're on to something."

"That random guy did smell awfully familiar…" Gajeel said.

* * *

~~~Outside in Magnolia~~~~

Lucy, Wendy, and Carla walked down the usual sidewalk next to the river after a hard day of shopping. It was snowing hard but all the flakes melted as soon as it touched the ground.

"Lucy, you're not going to try to get selected for the S-Class exam this year?" Asked Wendy.

The blonde haired mage shook her head. "No, Cana pleaded that I look after her."

"She's not participating in the S-Class exams either?"

"She can't, she caught a virus."

"I can heal her." Wendy offered.

"No, Cana is using the virus as an excuse to avoid Gildarts, who said he'd be coming back soon." Lucy giggled, but then slipped and fell into the cold river.

"Lucy!" Wendy exclaimed in worry.

The Celestial spirit holder bobbed her head up. "I'm okay."

Carla helped her up. "Geez, where are the people who warn you to be careful when you need them." Lucy sighed and sneezed.

Wendy giggled. "Looks like you might come down with a cold."

"Heal me please." Lucy groaned.

Just as Lucy was settled down on the ground by Carla, they saw a twinkle in the sky. They realized the twinkle wasn't a star, but someone falling out of the sky at an incredible speed. All their eyes widened as they realized it would crash on them. Carla quickly grabbed Wendy and flew out of the way. Unfortunately for Lucy, she was hit dead on.

 _Crash_

The guy was cloaked, the same guy who was just at the Fairy Tail building. Lucy groaned dizzily, stars danced around her head, and repeated "Heal me please…"

The guy quickly left without saying a word while Lucy was waiting for Wendy to help her.

"Wendy?" Lucy sat up and was surprised to see tears escape Wendy's eyes.

"Wendy, Carla?" Lucy repeated.

Both were unresponsive as their eyes were just staring into nothingness.

The sky dragonslayer covered her mouth as she whispered "I know that scent."

Lucy looked at Wendy as she tried to figure out who the cloaked man could be. Their thoughts were interrupted as the moon shone and the hard snow started to finally cover the ground. They each went their own way to their own home and slept the night. Until the next day…

* * *

The next morning, the guild building was filled with rumors and gossip going around. Rumors like who's going to be selected and if they were going to participate in the Grand Magic Games too. Gray sat in a stool looking arrogant while Erza reminded him to put on some clothes by smashing him down to the floor like the day before, just with a smashed stool too. Gajeel taunted Gray before having a little conversation with Levy. Team shadow gear were still not used to the communication between Levy and Gajeel, so they complained and pleaded "Levy, Levy!" The blue haired bookworm certainly wasn't comfortable with the men acting strangely around her.

Happy proposed a fish to Carla as usual, but with less enthusiasm. Carla knew Happy had been acting less happy since the death of Natsu so she wasn't so cold to the male blue cat as often. "Thank you." She said.

Lucy asked the female cat "Where's Wendy?"

Carla took a bite of the fish before answering, "She left on some important mission."

"You didn't come with her?" Erza butted in the conversation. "Will she be okay?"

"Yeah, she's 400+ years old, I'm sure she can take care of herself."

Happy sweatdropped at that statement. He remembered how shocked everyone was when he told the dragon slayers came from four-hundred years into the past. It's surprising how a small little girl was older than everyone in the room except Gajeel.

The rambling in the building grew louder and Makarov himself thought that Laxus ditched his job of being guildmaster and went off on some random mission.

Today was the day that the mages participating in the S-Class exam would be announced. Everyone was growing restless, especially Gray who stripped five consecutive times subconsciously. He was also beaten to a pulp six consecutive times by Erza.

Suddenly, lightning struck inside the center of the build which blasted a couple of rows of people away. They yelled curses at him but the lightning mage just shrugged it off.

Everyone quieted down immediately, especially when Laxus electrified the people making the most noise. For example: Gray, Elfman, Gajeel, some other side characters…

"Listen weaklings- I mean everyone. I'm only going to announce the selection of S-Class mages once so shut up. " Laxus looked up as if he were searching his thoughts. "The selected members are…

"Stripper,

"Iron guy,

"Mirajane's brother,

"Water mage,

"Drunk -wait no she's sick,

"uh and Bookworm."

Everyone whose names/nicknames were called sighed in relief but some were very angered and annoyed that they weren't called by their actual name. Others complained that Laxus only selected the names of the people he could think up at the top of his head, and that he didn't put much thought into the selection.

"Stripper?" Gray yelled furiously. "Now everyone here knows that I take off my clothes from time to time!"

"Juvia already knew that." Juvia said in excitement.

"Everyone already knew that." Pantherlily facepalmed.

"Well Juvia has seen more!" Said the water mage in more delight.

A couple of people fainted at what they just heard whilst everyone else were giving the ice mage a variety of looks. Confusion, cheering, and etc were all the stares he was getting. Gray wave his hands that formed an X. "Juvia is just kidding, right Juvia?"

"Let's have 30 babies!" Juvia proclaimed.

Gray ran out the building out of fear and Juvia chased him.

"Oh how things never change." Commented Happy.

Elfman randomly said "That's a man!" His siblings looked at him weirdly. "What?"

Meanwhile the Raijinshuu were around Laxus, thanking him and asking questions.

"Why weren't we picked?" Asked the lightning trio.

Laxus answered "Because I have a mission for you guys."

At that, the Raijinshuu gave him a million compliments. Laxus smiled and handed a piece of paper to Makarov. "Here you go old man."

"What's this?" Makarov asked.

"A giant list of bills for the amount of damage this guild has created in tiny print. Oh and there is no way I'm paying for this."

Makarov unfolded the paper and just fainted. "I'm not free…" He whistled sadly.

After things quieted down and the extras(side characters) left, Levy asked "Where's the S-Class exam going to take place and what's the goal?"

Laxus grinned. "The exam is the Grand Magic Games, if they win, they will graduate to S-Class."

Makarov spat out some beer on to Happy accidentally.

As Happy was squirming about how unclean it is to have an old man spit on you, Makarov gasped "You can't do that! That's never happened before! Multiple people becoming S Class is unprecedented."

Laxus reasoned "Fairy Tail always does the unexpected. Anyways, it was fun two years ago and Fairy Tail needs to get back on top, so why not?" Makarov didn't sound convinced until his grandson sighed "There's always the handsome reward."

At that, Makarov agreed.

"You guys decide how to prepare for the GMG." Laxus said, then disappeared at a flash of lightning. Makarov complained to himself about bills and how they were going to win the competition without any S-Class Mages.

The three selected mages still in the guild decided to stand in a circle, thinking up how they should cooperate, they complained a fair bit to the lack of Gray and Juvia being there. Gajeel, Elfman, and Levy. Obviously, there was going to be disagreement and fighting. Especially between the two men.

That was exactly what happened.

So, before any progress, Carla invited Happy to sleepover at Fairy Hills. Happy accepted the offer and took a fish out of his bag to nom on.

They entered their room by the window and were surprised to find an unconscious and slightly injured Wendy on the couch.

"Wendy!" They both exclaimed. The dragon slayer had a few bruises but didn't seem to have any serious injuries. The cat duo decided to let Wendy rest and in the meantime, they had a small conversation.

"Happy?"

"Aye?"

Carla was shy to mutter out her next sentence. "Do you still think about Natsu?"

"Always." Happy responded unhesitantly.

"Where do you think he is?"

Happy pointed up. "He's up there, watching over me and everyone else. Even in death he's looking after us. As long as we don't forget him."

Carla smiled at his response. "Happy… I received a vision into the future. I see… Natsu there in the future with everyone, alive. I saw him alive."

Happy's eyes shined with brand new hope. He hugged Carla tightly before crying "Natsu is alive?"

Carla nodded but decided to not reveal any other information. In her vision, Natsu was alive all right. But he was attacking their guildmates and they were attacking him back. Natsu didn't have the guild's insignia imprinted on his right shoulder. They were yelling at him at desperation and anger. Carla wondered if they met the fire dragonslayer again, would they still be friends? She hoped this vision wasn't accurate but this was one of the visions that seemed crystal clear.

Wendy stirred awake and groaned in agony.

"Hey… how are you feeling?" Asked Carla who was still being hugged by Happy.

Wendy mumbled something so quiet that no one could hear.

"What?"

"I was tracking a scent… when I found him."

"Who?"

"Natsu-san."

* * *

~~~On the outskirts of Magnolia~~~

The cloaked man was resting on a tree, rubbing his bruised belly. His hood was down, which revealed he had long spiky pink hair. There was a girl sitting next to him, scolding him.

"I thought I told you not to get close to Fairy Tail, Natsu." She sighed.

"But I miss them so much." He cringed, remembering how hard Erza kicked him. At least Erza hasn't lost her touch.

"They might find out you're alive."

"They probably already know." Natsu laughed and the girl choked. "Gajeel and Wendy probably noticed my scent." He grinned again.

"They're not supposed to know yet, you fool!" She slapped Natsu across the face and stood up. "Wasn't that Wendy the girl who was tracking you awhile ago?"

"Yeah, too bad she slipped down a rocky hill… "

"And you brought her back to her room… I saw the rest, but now your scent is lingering at Wendy's room. Do you so badly want to meet them?"

Natsu nodded slowly.

"We're leaving." Stated the girl.

"Where?"

"Crocus, the blooming capital."

Natsu grinned, he knew that Fairy Tail would arrive there soon. "Thanks Anna."

The girl now mentioned as Anna scoffed. "We're only there to take care of a mission, not to watch the Grand Magic Games! Keep that in mind."

Natsu nodded sarcastically. "Sure."

* * *

~~~To be continued in Chapter 4: Sightings~~~

Thanks for reading :D

This was a really long chapter... because I just didn't know where to end the chapter. I named the chapter Pink haired mage, but I didn't think it's take me this long to get to the Natsu part... I just wanted to add a bit of humor... I'm pretty sure I made a few mistakes in this, point those mistakes out please, even though I reread this story a million times O~O.

Review if you want, I read all advise and criticism.


	4. Sightings

Chapter 4 Sighting

~On a carriage to Crocus~

Juvia and levy were sitting on the far corner of the carriage, to avoid getting mixed into the mess Gray, Gajeel, and Elfman were in.

"Why does this always happen?" Levy sweat dropped.

"Go Gray-sama!" Juvia cheered.

Levy sighed, this wasn't going to work well.

While the boys were too busy arguing about where they would each go once they arrived at the Capitol, Levy noticed the carriage abruptly stop. No one else noticed the change, but Levy pointed it out when the carriage wasn't moving for about ten minutes or so.

The crew left the carriage to see what was going on, when they saw that the driver was mission, and the wheels were pinned to the ground, a few of them paled. They also noticed how they arrived at an isolated place no where near Crocus.

"No one said your S Class Exams started when you got to the Grand Magic Games." Erza was found leaning against the carriage in her Heart Kruz armor, grinning devilishly.

Most were taken aback by her presence, except for Gajeel who showed very interested in having a head to head battle with the red head.

Erza requiped into her Flight Armor and vanished at the speed of light, leaving the words "Ready?"

* * *

~Near the same area as the S Class Mage selected group~

Natsu, covered in his cloak, and Anna were traveling by foot to Crocus. Unfortunately, Natsu forgot where the location of Crocus was and Anna is directionally challenged.

"Why couldn't we just bring a map." Natsu complained.

"Because, this way, we're facing our weaknesses which is the only way to get stronger." Anna replied.

"You sounded wise for once," Natsu scoffed. "So if you're facing your 'direction problems,' then what weakness am I facing? -Not like I have any weaknesses anyway…"

Anna smacked Natsu's head and Natsu complained even though he felt nothing. "Of course I'm wise, I lived longer than you -a being who is more than 400 years old. However, you are too dumb for your own good. You, who has died twice, still knows completely nothing except how to fight."

The pink haired boy grinned while Anna sighed. "You are going to face your weakness of Fairy Tail."

"My weakness… of Fairy Tail?"

Suddenly, the earth quaked the ground and the wind flew into all eight directions, blasting all light objects miles away. The strong winds were able to rip their clothing, even tear a satchel Anna was wearing and blow it away to a considerable far distance. Both Natsu and Anna panicked at the satchel leaving their side. Anna sprinted to chase the satchel, while Natsu looked directly above him, to see Erza in her Black Wing armor battling five other people. Erza seemed to be struggling a bit until Mirajane appeared to help battle the other mages at Erza's side. He noticed that the other five mages were also Fairy Tail mages.

What the hell is Fairy Tail doing here? Natsu thought, but was interrupted when Erza kicked Gray his way.

"Shit." Natsu and Gray said at the same time but in different tones. Natse had enough time to dodge, however he was still caught in the dusty explosion Gray made when his body created a huge impact against the earth. After the dust settled, Gray was seen in his Ice Make stance, freezing the area around him.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword!" Gray yelled as an ethereal long sword is created from his palms and he leaps towards Erza.

Erza, in response, requiped into Adamantine Armor and fell from the sky towards Gray.

Before their weapons made contact, Anna yelled "STOP!"

Gray and Erza's magic dispersed into nothingness upon hearing her voice and collided head to head in the sky. Both landed to the ground in a boom.

Anna stood in front of them, getting ready to scold them for disturbing the 'face your weakness' session. The other mages also appeared to find Gray and Erza being nagged at by some unknown reason. Natsu sweat dropped and felt slightly satisfied by the fact that Gray and Erza were getting scolded for once.

"And this is why the future looks ugly, because all you mages keep destroying all the nature." She crossed her arms with a giant tick mark throbbing on her head.

Gray and Erza felt astonished when Anna said 'this is why the future looks' in such a menacing tone. However, they were most astonished when the person scolding them was a woman who looked almost exactly like Lucy, but this woman gave off a more mature and scarier feeling. She clasped her hands and turned to the cloaked Natsu. "Shall we go then?"

Natsu nodded, and glanced at Erza and Gray one last time before leaving. Gray whispered to Erza, "Isn't that the guy we brought into Fairy Tail."

Erza agreed and had a dark look on her face. "The S class exams will continue without me, I'm going to investigate something." She said.

Gray closed his eyes and collapsed in fatigue. He wondered how the rest were doing holding up with the other demon.

* * *

~With Natsu and Anna~

Natsu and Anna were walking down a path in the middle of a forest under the drops of the harsh rain. Anna held the torn satchel, playing with the rips and tears before taking out the items inside it. There was a pen, a clear lacrima sphere, and a book. She gave the pen and lacrima to Natsu but she kept the book to herself. Surprisingly, the book was unaffected by the wet weather.

"What did you mean my weakness of Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked while fiddling with the pen and tossing the lacrima on each hand.

"Only you can find it out, and it's really a simple answer. But you're too much of a knucklehead to understand it in just five minutes."

"Can't you atleast give me a hint?" Natsu whined.

Anna sighed caringly. "Why have you been avoiding Fairy Tail all this time, even when you were resurrected six months ago?"

Natsu pondered a bit. "Because you told me to?"

Anna crossed her arms. "Wrong… well I guess that was part of it. But you're not the type of person to listen to other people. Why change now?"

"Because you told me that you needed help?" The dragonslayer guessed.

"Wrong again. I am simply a person who isn't supposed to exist and so are you, none of us need help."

Natsu wondered in his thoughts again and it hurt. He never really needed to think too much. Usually he would ask his friends for the answer or to remember for him. He walked to a tree with a wilted leaf. "It's because I don't want to reunite with my friends only to part with them again forever."

He turned around to find that Anna had vanished, her scent and everything.

In her place, standing there was Erza with wide eyes with a sudden realization.

That voice… Natsu? No it can't be…

Natsu decided to finally stand with her instead of run away. _Oh Erza is going to kill me…_

"Hi Erza…" Natsu pulled down his hood to reveal his pink spike hair and his face. His scarf from Igneel was loosely wrapped around his neck.

* * *

To be continued in Chapter 5: Natsu vs Fairy Tail

Thank you for reading :D


	5. Natsu vs Fairy Tail

Happy New Year :D

Chapter 5 Natsu vs Fairy Tail

Anna stared at the air confusedly. She was sure that she was just in a forest with Natsu standing in front of her. Now she was in the middle of a city with all their lights on. She drew the conclusion that she was in the busy capital city of Crocus, due to the fact that their was a weird pumpkin thing dancing in the streets. What is that anyway?

She spotted a blonde girl with shopping bags and a blue cat with wings approach her. She knew they were Lucy and Happy because Natsu always talked about his friends. Anna waited for them to pass by her like normal strangers that walked on the same path. But Happy's eyes widened when he saw Anna. The blue cat flew right at her and Anna flinched, accidentally dropping the book in her hands. Happy dived toward the book and snatched it successfully. But he hesitated momentarily when he saw the stranger's face. It looks almost exactly like Lucy. His head looked to Lucy, then back to the stranger. Two Lucys?

While Happy was confused, Anna grabbed Happy's tail to prevent him from running away causing the exceed to screech, but Lucy interrupted her when she lashed out her whip and tripped her foot with it.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" Yelled Lucy while holding up a golden key.

Strangely, the key didn't glow and there was no trace of magic used by Lucy. The blonde mage noticed this and repeated the process in using her gate keys. It didn't work.

Anna just hissed as she glared at Happy. "Stupid cat. If you keep that book, you endanger your dragonslayer's life." She was about to use her own magic herself on Happy, but then she realized that maybe the book was in better care if it wasn't in her own hands.

She grunted and ran off. Natsu, it's almost time… The _other_ Ankhseram is coming...

Lucy was staring at her keys, wondering why her magic wasn't working but she was shoved out of her thoughts when she heard Anna. If you keep that book, you endanger your dragonslayer's life. Was she talking about Wendy, Gajeel?

Happy was happily humming when he retook possession of the Book of E.N.D. He didn't know why that girl had the book, but he was joyful that it was back. But that girl did have a mean look when he stole it from her. He hoped nothing bad was going to happen. Carla's glimpse into the future, the book now in his care again. This all probably meant Natsu was going to come back, but why did he feel a bad omen?

Lucy walked to Happy who was having trouble digesting what could soon be coming into the future. "Let's go to the inn and wait for the rest of the guild to get here tomorrow."

Happy nodded with a little question. "Why did that woman look like you, Lucy?"

"She looked like me? What are you talking about, cat?"

* * *

~In the forest with Natsu and Erza~

Erza violently glared at Natsu with confusion.

"You're not some imposter like the rest of them. You are the real Natsu."

Natsu shut his mouth but nodded. If he didn't respond in any way, he would truly be killed. In all honesty, he still feared the scarlet haired mage.

"Speak!" Her voice boomed loudly and echoed through the falling raindrops.

"Yeah-" Natsu was interrupted when Erza requipped a spear and rushed towards him. Natsu responded quickly by dodging down, jump, and backstep.

"WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO DIE?" She yelled in fury.

"I missed you!" Erza yelled while thrusting the spear rapidly where Natsu was but he dodged quickly.

"Fairy Tail missed you!" Natsu's gaze darkened when he realized that Erza was basically telling him that he abandoned them.

"Everyone missed you!" Erza grit her teeth and tried to jab Natsu.

Natsu knew he couldn't just say Sorry and he also couldn't just run away. There was probably only one way for him to actually get Erza to listen to him. The only way was to fight her and to beat her. The dragonslayer actually smiled when he thought of actually winning a fight against Erza; something he couldn't achieve in his life before this one. He lit his fist on fire in joy. He hadn't fought anyone strong in a while, and Anna wasn't here to stop him.

Erza stared at the roaring fire on Natsu's fist. So she was going to have to battle him in order to get answers out of him.

Natsu made the first move. He rushed towards Erza with fire burning at his feet and hands at lightning speed. He disappeared for a second and reappeared above the scarlet haired mage. Erza, who quickly changed in her Adamantine Armor, successfully guarded the attack and instantly requipped into Flame Empress Armor to horizontally slice at Natsu with her blade. Natsu ducked like he was playing limbo and lower sweeped Erza's legs so she fell off balanced and he roared a beam of fire directly at Erza while holding her arm still at point blank range. As the waves of fire crashed at Erza, she thrust her sword into Natsu while she was still in the heat of the flames.

"Ow." Natsu winced as he saw the sword pierced in his shoulder, blood rolled out of the wound. "What's in the sword?" He said as he realized his body growing numb and unresponsive.

"I guess I accidentally had paralysis powder on the blade of this sword from my last mission."

"You know, just because my body can't move well, doesn't mean I still can't use magic."

Erza raised an eyebrow as she heard an earthquake. Below her, the ground started to melt and bubble up, and a giant pillar of fire exploded from beneath her. She stayed and took the blow in order to keep her grasp on Natsu. It was a hard struggle when Natsu raised his body temperature and Erza's grip on Natsu's arm started to smoke.

"I'm not letting go." Said Erza. "I'm taking you home."

"I'm not going back to Fairy Tail." Natsu replied nonchalantly, which surprised even himself. He was definitely acting weird. He wished he could just grin like old times. He didn't even eat dinner yet he didn't feel hungry. Strange...

Erza hid her surprise as she put most of her focus on her grip. "No one refuses my request..."

Natsu felt a chill climb up his spine as he felt a dark aura swirl around Erza. Here she comes...

From the path nearby, the S class nominees and Mira and Laxus appeared with shocked looks. They came here to investigate what was the cause of all the explosions and noises coming from this area. They didn't think they would find Natsu here.

"What happened to you?" Erza asked, gripping so tight that Natsu couldn't feel the blood flow to his hand.

"I Died." Natsu said in a dark voice. He too wondered what had happened to him. He was going to abandon his friends and family. He would've never done that before without a damn good reason. Maybe he had a good reason for doing this, if he came back, he'd be forced to leave again. He just wanted to prevent leaving Fairy Tail again and again and again.

Erza glanced at the flames and then locked eyes with Natsu. His flames held no more hope and his eyes showed no more kindness. Even though the intense fire burnt her, it felt so very cold.

"Natsu. Listen to me for once."

"You know I never listen." He chuckled. The paralysis wore off finally and Natsu swung an unsuspecting punch at Erza's stomach.

"Natsu! What are you doing?" Laxus yelled and rushed towards Natsu lightning speed in order to thrust a punch at the fire dragon slayer. Natsu was still recovering from the paralysis so he could do nothing but to get punched square to the face and got blown straight through several trees.

Nothing could be done now, too many Fairy Tail mages saw him now. What he was about to do… he could never turn back. He struggled deep in his thoughts, this was too painful for him to bear, and too strange for he didn't really like thinking -just do. He didn't even do anything yet but his eyes started to water up.

Erza coughed out blood and forced herself to say "We can help you Natsu."

Everyone else were still confused at what was going on, and whatever was happening, it probably was not good.

"Flame Brain, she's right. Whatever your problem is, we can help you. Like when you helped us. We're Fairy Tail Mages, Family" Gray yelled.

"This is an order from your guild master. Stop running away and be the Fairy Tail mage you always were." Laxus said.

"No." Natsu replied. Upon hearing his reply, Laxus struck lighting just beside Natsu. It didn't intimidate him but Laxus was hoping to show he was close to being strict serious.

Natsu stared blankly at Laxus in a struggling manner. "I withdraw... from Fairy Tail."

"What?" Multiple people said at the same time.

"Withdraw? As in, you're leaving?"

Natsu nodded as all his senses were starting to dull.

Dammit, if he blacked out right here and now, things could be awkward…

"No way in hell is Salamander allowed to leave." Gajeel hissed while crossing his arms.

"No... He's free to leave anytime he wants to. Everyone is." Mirajane said grimly.

"Damn it all. Give me a damn reason as to why you're leaving us." Gray shouted.

Natsu slowly stood up and used a tree to lean on. In a nanosecond, he lit his right arm on fire and punched Laxus in the face, using gravity to help him beat Laxus down to the ground. Laxus' defense gave up and he was blown five feet into the ground with an astonished look. He quickly recovered and appeared right infront of Natsu in a strike of lightning.

"Natsu…" Laxus said quietly.

Natsu glared at Laxus with a dark aura around him. Laxus felt uncomfortable to the point where he got irritated at the fire dragonslayer. How far have you fallen?

Veins popped on the lightning mage's head and he swift punched Natsu in the stomach; which again, caused Natsu to get blown a few kilometers away. "STOP ACTING LIKE A MORON AND GO BACK TO YOUR IDIOTIC SELF!"

This time Mirajane rushed to Natsu and kicked him down to the ground in her Soul Satan form. She then reached out her hand/claws to him with a serious smirk. "Remember, every member in Fairy Tail holds a dark past. But we'll always overcome the past. Together."

Natsu grunted but smiled. His expression softened and his body relaxed.

He was about to reach his hand out to her and say thank you. But before he could do anything, a giant beam of light rained over and engulfed the pink haired dragonslayer in the bright light.

~At the Same Time in an Inn in Crocus~

Happy was dreaming about fish on a puffy bed while Lucy sat at a desk studying the book of END. She had a general idea of the book. Apparently it was a book so very precious to Happy for some reason, and it held Zeref's most powerful demon. She had no idea the book was connected to a very powerful dark mage and to a blue talking cat but she did know that this book was probably a force not to be reckoned with.

She placed her hands on the cover of the book, feeling how warm the book was. She than instantly tried to force the book to open. Even if curiosity killed the cat, she was still too curious. Unfortunately the book would not open and the blonde girl sighed. And she fell deep into her thoughts about what information could possibly be in the book. Probably just END. She shivered at the thought. If she somehow unsealed the demon and she would be forced to fight END then she'd probably faint. And when she's unconscious she'll probably be kidnapped by the demon to be tortured until death. Maybe she was glad that the book was sealed shut.

She deeply inhaled when suddenly the book suddenly started to vibrate. She took a deeper look at the book and tried to hold it still.

"Don't hold it!" A voice yelled at her.

Lucy whipped around to see the girl who held the book earlier was behind her. She immediately lashed out her whip in a battle stance towards the girl.

"Lucy Heartfilia I presume?" Asked the girl.

"How do you know my name?" Lucy asked.

The girl ignored the question and just held a stare at the book. She calmly asked with no tone "Do you want to open that book?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. The book was still shaking and started to melt the surface of the desk it was on. It suddenly started to spout flames too. But Lucy held her determination. It's now or never, time to find out the truth. She nodded and the girl nodded too.

"Open, Gate of the water bearer, Aquarius!" The girl said while holding up a golden key.

Wait, that's Aquarius' key, how can she do that when the key was broken? Lucy thought as she saw her former magic appear right infront of her eyes. And how can she summon her when there's no water nearby? Lucy circled around her thoughts as a flash of light appeared from the key. A wave of water calmed the flames and Aquarius appeared holding her jar as usual.

"Aquarius?" Lucy shouted in bewilderment with a tear forming in her eye.

"Tch." The celestial spirit saw Lucy and immediately shot a giant wave of water towards Lucy, causing the blonde celestial mage to crash through the wall of the inn and fall out of the third floor of the inn. Lucy screamed as she crashed towards the ground, but the water caught her and brought her back into the room.

At that Aquarius disappeared back into the Celestial world. Lucy was drenched and dead tired so she collapsed on the bed next to Happy -who was still sleeping and dreaming about fish. The girl sweatdropped as she remembered that that was Aquarius' usual response when she saw Lucy. Ah, Natsu told many stories.

"Who are you?" Lucy groaned in agony, with a little bit of confusion. She realized this woman had her appearance when she looked at the woman more carefully.

It's been awhile since Aquarius did that since… well you know, so Lucy wasn't used to it.

"My name is Anna. I'm an acquaintance of END."

Lucy's body froze. An acquaintance of END? Does that mean she's bad? But wait, Happy deeply cares about the book of END so maybe she's okay. But there was that Tartarus incident…

"Relax, I'm not going to harm you. I'm just checking up on the book. As you saw, that is a very unstable book."

Lucy closed her eyes but she kept her ears alert to Anna's voice.

"This book won't harm you either. After all, it is your best friend."

What does she mean? I'm only friends with humans and cats. Not demons, oh wait. Lucy retracted the thought when she remembered Erza and Mira. She trembled.

"Did you know END is alive?"

Lucy guessed as much. The book is right there unharmed, of course the demon would be alive

Anna walked over to the book and opened it with no effort. She opened it like it was a normal book when Lucy failed many times in attempt to open the book.

Lucy sighed as she was soon falling into the realm of dreams.

"Did you know that END's name stands for Etherious Natsu Dragneel?"

Lucy twitched when she heard that, but her drowsiness grabbed her and she had a nightmare of what if Tartarus was successful in reviving END.

* * *

To be continued in Chapter 6: A, A, A, and Natsu

Please review so I know my reader's aren't zombies! It's also nice to have some encouragement too :P

Thanks for reading and continue the spirit :D

A/N: I guess Natsu was acting a bit (a bit or maybe not at all) OOC but I won't come up with excuses. It won't be like this later in the story but no promises. Muahaha my writing style is so unorganized. :3


	6. A, A, A, and Natsu

Chapter 6

A, A, A, and Natsu

A certain scarlet haired mage sat on a bench with a strawberry cheesecake resting on her lap. She stared at the cake in awe, poking the cake perfectly with her fork. But she couldn't let herself take one bite of the sweet treat because the events with Natsu last night were just buzzing on her mind. She never thought Fairy Tail's reunion with Natsu would be so violent. Although maybe it was her fault for attacking first. No, Erza clenched her fist, she was determined that what she did was right, maybe. However the battle yesterday ended very mysteriously.

~Flash Back~

 _Erza had finally thought that hot-headed idiot finally cleared his mind when she saw him reach his hand out for Mira's hand. But all progress froze when a giant beam of light shadowed the sky. It was like the sky was a sea of blinding light that poured down on the forest they were currently in. It was light yet it felt so disturbing like this was darkness disguised as light. Her senses were instantly nullified by the light and her consciousness slowly slipped away…_

 _The next thing she remembered was that she woke up in the forest, with everyone else on the ground unconscious._

~End of Flash Back~

She remembered snapping orders at some travelers nearby and demanded them to bring her friends to the nearest village. And now here she was, sitting on a bench just outside an inn, eating cheesecake. She felt bad, no one else had woken up since, and she couldn't get into contact with anyone else because that meant leaving her friends here defenseless. She cursed not bringing a communication lacrima with her.

She sighed. If none of the members currently unconscious didn't wake up soon, then Fairy Tail would have to rethink their plans for the Grand Magic Games -not like any of that mattered. What really mattered was that everyone was alive.

"Erza."

Erza was caught of her guard and jumped on instinct. Unfortunately, her cake fell off her lap. "My cake…" Erza stood still before requiping a giant hammer and swinging it to the source of the voice.

The man who spoke was defenseless to the giant hammer and was reduced to taking the full hard blow of the hammer. The man was wearing an awfully familiar cloak…

"Jellal!? W-what are you doing here?" Erza gasped.

"Nghh."

"Sorry," Erza said sorry to both Jellal and the cake. "I did say I loved cake more than anything else, right?"

She sighed, great another injured comrade.

* * *

~Natsu's room in the small village where Erza had brought everyone~

Natsu woke up, rapidly gasping for air. He felt like he hadn't breathed air in the last thirty minutes. He slowly calmed himself down, realizing he was in some sort of infirmary.

"Ah…" He scratched his head. "I remember now."

On a night table beside his bed, he saw a lacrima orb flashing rapidly. He picked it up and just stared at it with confusion. He slightly cocked his head. _How do you use this again?_

* * *

~Happy and Lucy's room in Crocus~

Happy quietly woke up on a bed next to Lucy who was soaking wet. His first thought: Fish. He smelled fish. Second thought: Lucy is weird.

He sat up to analyze the room, his eyes stopping at an open book. Wings formed on his back and he flew straight to the book. Staring at the book for five seconds, he just realized "I can't read this…"

"Lucy, wake up and read this for me!"

"Mmmm, shut up cat." Lucy groaned while trying to rest a bit more.

"Luuuuuuuuuuuucy."

"What?!". The blonde girl shouted and sat up from her lying position.

"Can I have a fish?" Happy asked.

"Good night." The girl lied back down and pulled the bed covers over her.

"Aw." Happy said while staring at the book. He heard the door slowly swing open and footsteps walk in. Happy turned his head to the intruder's direction. "Who are you?"

"I can read that book for you." The man smiled.

"Really?" Happy exclaimed and jumped up. He closed and grabbed the book and was about to give the man the book, but he stopped. _This man… is a really bad man…_

Happy jumped back and held the book behind his back, using his own body to shield the book. "Go away." He hissed to the man.

The man held out his hand and glared at Happy with evil eyes. His demeanor changed in an instant. "I _own_ that book now. I'm the one who raised your dead friend back to life and I can to the opposite to you. So I suggest you hand me the book before I kill you by the snap of my fingers."

Happy was so frightened. This man was letting off a giant magical aura that could probably be felt from a million miles away. It didn't matter if this guy revived Natsu, if he even did, this guy was too dangerous to be reckoned with. "No… I can't, I am NOT letting go!". Happy shouted with tears striking his face. "Go away evil man!."

"Fine. You're not worth it right now anyway. But..." The old man inhaled. "You, cat, has just put your entire guild on my list." In the man's hand, appeared a knife.

"What list?" Happy muttered, not really wanting to know what this list was. He also hoped that someone would help him. He looked towards Lucy who was still in her bed trying to sleep. _Why aren't you waking up, can't you feel this guy's immense presence?_

"My death list." He said in a dark menacing tone.

The man launched himself toward Happy, intending to stab Happy with his knife. Happy just barely dodged. "Lucy, help!" He yelled while angelic wings sprouted from his back and he took flight.

Lucy turned and lifted her head. She scanned around the room, looking for something. "I could've sworn I heard Happy's voice…" she muttered, but all she could see was that she was alone in the room.

Lucy was definitely looking at him. Happy knew that, but maybe she couldn't _see_ him?

"At the top it starts with those damn beings from four hundred years ago." The man yelled angrily, unintentionally revealing Happy his intentions.

"Natsu Dragneel. The man who always finds a way to resurrect himself from the dead." Happy looked at the man in total fear but thought: _if this man claims to revive Natsu, then why kill him again?_

"The Dragon's era. And it will end with Acnologia and those dragonslayers."

"...Anna. That dirty traitor." He said, a poisonous tone of disgust from muttering the name.

Happy dodged the knife again but accidentally hit a wall and rebounded towards the bed Lucy was on.

In Lucy's point of view, she didn't see anything until Happy just came out of nowhere and crashed into her. It was as if there was an invisible curtain in front of her that hid Happy.

"Happy?" Lucy shouted in surprise.

"Lucy… LOOK OUT!" Happy yelled as he jumped off, to avoid the crazy man behind him from stabbing him with a knife. But it was too late for Lucy, her bed sheets prevented her from quick escape.

"Cat, you just made everything more easy!" Lucy heard a voice, then out of nowhere, the man appeared, wielding a knife pointed towards her.

"AAH!" Lucy screamed in terror. She had no idea what was going on. She quickly figured out that there was an illusion barrier in the room that hid Happy and the man, but she didn't know why there was a barrier nor why there was a man about to stab her with a knife.

"LUUUUUCY!" Happy screamed.

* * *

~Natsu's room again~

"Is there supposed to be a button on this or what…" Natsu asked himself. He kept turning the lacrima orb around as if he would find something to do with it.

"You look like a complete idiot."

Natsu wide eyed the owner of the voice. First of all, he did not hear or smell this person at all until now. Once he realized who it was, he just sighed. "Laxus…"

The lightning mage eyed Natsu very carefully before his temper finally exploded -again. He swiftly punched Natsu down on the head. "Don't just 'Laxus…' me!"

Natsu rubbed his poor head. "Why are you so angry?" He asked, while dropping the lacrima on to the floor.

"Why are you so calm after I just punched you?" Laxus retaliated and punched Natsu again.

"Ow!"

"I'll keep punching you until you hit me." Laxus said with another punch.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow... (Ow and et cetera.)" By now, rage filled up in Natsu, and then he finally exploded, literally. "IS THAT HOW YOU TREAT AN INJURED COMRADE? WHAT KIND OF PSYCHO DOES THAT?" Natsu counter attacked and punched Laxus back in the face with hot flames and all.

"You do, you 'psycho'." Laxus smiled while taking the punch. "And you finally said the word comrade when everyone else started to think you were gone forever."

"Everyone..?"

The door to his room opened and in came in Mira, Gray, Elfman, and Levy. "Aw, Laxus. Has being guildmaster softened your heart a bit?" Mira teased.

"As if." Laxus shrugged. "Where's the others?"

Mira searched through her thoughts for the answers. "Um, I think Juvia went to get some fresh air. Gajeel is sleeping like a log. And… Oh, Erza is having a special reunion with… well you know who." She giggled. "Welcome back Natsu." She added with a soft grin.

Natsu nodded, only to get punched again.

"Flame Brain, what kind of answer is that?" Gray smirked.

"I just have a sore throat Ice Princess!"

"What are you talking about? Idiots don't catch colds!"

"Say that again when you put some clothes on, it's winter!"

"I don't see you complaining with that parka on!"

"AT LEAST I HAVE A SCARF!" Natsu roared, and thus the brawl between Natsu and Gray has started.

Everyone else in the room sweatdropped.

They thought their Natsu was finally back.

While Natsu and Gray were having their fight, the others decided to move on to another conversation.

"So what was with that light last night?" Laxus asked.

"I've never seen or felt anything like that before…" Levy said.

"I wonder…" Mira trailed off.

"Whatever it was, it certainly was not manly." Elfman put in.

They all remembered the light yesterday but not what happened between the light and being in the hospital. One really far possibility was that they were abducted by aliens but that idea was shut down immediately.

"Oh yeah." Mira remembered and quickly changed the subject. "Natsu, do want to rejoin Fairy Tail?"

Natsu's and Gray's battle froze immediately when the question was put out to the air.

The dragon slayer remembered. He erased his guild mark a month after he was revived.

"I…"

Natsu was about to complete his answer when suddenly all the Fairy Tail mages suddenly collapsed in pain, their Fairy Tail marks intensely growing vibrantly.

"W-What?" Gray stammered as he held his chest while kneeling on the ground in agony. The same happened with everyone else as their knees suddenly gave out and they were all clutching their guild mark in absolute pain.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Levy screamed, as she couldn't hold the pain in anymore.

"What's... happening?" Natsu said as he was the only one not affected by whatever was going on. He looked at his bare right shoulder and to everyone's Fairy Tail mark. Everyone's mark shined intensly. Even Laxus was having a hard time hiding the pain. Natsu pondered... _Was he not affected because he was no longer a part of Fairy Tail?_

He didn't know what to do. Right now all his friends were in pain and there was nothing he could do. He looked sorrowful when the communication lacrima on the floor caught his attention again.

* * *

~The front yard of the Inn~

Jellal had finally recovered from the hammer Erza had hit him with and now the two were sitting opposite next to each other on the bench. Juvia was somewhere in the bushes behind them, watching their 'progress'. Juvia thought that maybe if she hit Gray hard enough with a hammer that maybe the two of them would be sitting on a bench together, reconciling each other.

"Er… Sorry." Jellal apologized.

"No, it's my fault for hitting you with the hammer." Erza said and added "Please hit me."

(Silence)

The couple looked at each other in the eyes subconsciously.

Unfortunately this 'romantic' moment was interrupted when Erza's guild mark on her left arm suddenly started to viciously glow. She winced until the pain finally caught up to her and she fell to her side.

"Nnngh." Her face contorted with pain and confusion.

Jellal caught her with a worried face. "What's wrong?!"

Juvia who was just quietly watching them a minute ago now too felt the pain Erza was feeling.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

And their never ending screams echoed into the skies along with every other Fairy Tail mage.

* * *

~At the room Lucy and Happy were staying at~

The man slowly stepped towards the shadows with a grin with a bloodied knife dripping to the floor.

"It was no joke that every Fairy Tail mage is connected."

He laughed and disappeared into the shadows with a certain book now in his possession.

"One down." His maniacal laughter was heard under the many Screams of his victims.

* * *

To be continued... Did you figure out what the A's stand for in the chapter title?

Thanks for reading!

If you don't like the Jellal and Erza fluff then just tell me. :P

The theory of the book opening and Natsu transforming into E.N.D is not in this story. Sorry XD

Oh and thank you very much for your reviews! They are literally a cure for writers block, all of them! I felt so happy reading them, people actually like my story :D Although I do have some bad news...

(I read some other fanfictions where the author puts a list of people who reviewed and replies to their reviews. Do you want me to do the same?)

\- I made a mistake. I just realized that the S class exams take place in winter and the Grand Magic Games take place in summer. Oh so sorry for making this minor mistake if any of you caught it.

IF THIS CHAPTER IS CONFUSING, I'M SORRY. I'M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING!


	7. Let Me Tell You EverythingNothing

Chapter 7

Let me tell you everything/nothing

* * *

Anna facepalmed as Natsu wasn't responding to the communication lacrima. She was pretty sure she taught that idiot how to use these things but maybe she underestimated Natsu's idioticness.

She clenched her teeth in stress until the air a few feet in front of her glowed gold. She looked up and saw the glow turn into the figure of Aquarius.

"Aquarius? I thought I left you back to Lucy's side." She said quietly.

Aquarius looked down as she declared some bad news to Anna. "Well you see…"

* * *

It was snowing hard, like a flurry into a blizzard. Snow pelted up by the minute as if the weather was reacting to the strange phenomenon enacted to the Fairy Tail mages.

"AAAH!" Erza clenched her teeth, trying to avoid to scream her lungs out. Erza's body went limp and she fell over. Jellal caught her and exhaled.

"Meredy! Where are you? Come out and help me!" Jellal yelled at the gray sky.

The light pink haired woman appeared out of nowhere with an ice cream in her hand. She gasped and dropped the ice cream when she saw Erza in Jellal's arms.

"No way." she covered her mouth. "Did you two… finally make it to step two in the dating process?"

"No, what dating process?" Jellal stammered. "Help me bring in Erza and Juvia into the inn."

"Juvia..?" Meredy spotted the water mage on the ground with a look. The look was more excited rather than painful…

Erza twitched in Jellal's arms. "Second floor, third room right." She cringed in pain. That should be the room where Natsu and the others should be, she thought.

"Jellal hurry up. Juvia is having a weird dream about Gray and I don't want to keep listening to this." Meredy complained as Juvia flailed her arms in her sleep.

Jellal sweatdropped walked until he stood in front of the room Erza spoke of.

* * *

Natsu was having a panic attack as one by one, his former guild mates collapsed in agony with strained looks glued to their faces. He noticed how once they were unconscious, their Fairy Tail marks no longer glowed, actually, the color turned duller than before, and he didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Shaking hurriedly and angrily, he smashed the communication lacrima in rage that he couldn't do any anything to help his friends. He stared at the broken glass pieces of the lacrima then to the door that just burst open out of nowhere.

Behind the door stood a worried Jellal holding an unconscious Erza, next to him was Meredy with a not in this world Juvia.

"Natsu?" The blue haired mage exclaimed.

"Jellal?" Natsu blurted out as a few nurses shoved their way into the room.

"You're alive?"

"You're here?"

The two mages just stared at each other with befuddled looks and were followed by an awkward silence.

"Would someone just talk already and explain was going on?!" Meredy yelled.

No one answered, mostly because they also had no idea what was going on.

Natsu heard everyone's pulse beat very slowly, but there was a pulse which meant they were okay, for now. He looked into his thoughts as he knew he had seen something like this. All mages of the same guild taken down at the same time even when nothing had physically touched them… It was something like Meredy's Maguilty Sense but more different more extreme. For instance, the sensory link is a guild mark and everyone who has the same guild mark is literally connected. Another major difference is that once a member is deemed unconscious, they never wake up again to very soon die. Natsu remembered this because Anna lectured him about this on their travels when they found one guild and every member of the guild was nearly dead. But for some strange reason, Anna had the power to heal them. Natsu never really pondered Anna's power because she told him that she would explain it later. Who the culprit was? Well it was that _man._

The nurses relocated the Fairy Tail mages into different rooms, but for some reason Jellal refused to let the nurses take Erza. The nurses complied and left him alone. And for that reason, the nurses forced the conscious mages outside to the wintery, blizzard scene. It seemed they didn't care for the well being of the healthy people like they were Porlyusica or something.

"A-aw Jellal, have you fallen for the Titania so much that you can't even trust a few nurses to take care of her. You know, she is suffering, especially now that we're outside in this freezing winter, right?" Meredy teased, while shivering from the cold winds. "The weather decides to storm us with snow just when we get outside." She muttered angrily.

"It's not that." Jellal said seriously. "It's just that I feel that the nurses can't do anything to help them."

"You're right." Natsu spoke, surprising the two, they already forgot that he was here.

"So you do know what's going on." Jellal pointed him out.

"Well, only vaguely…" The dragon slayer admitted. He needed to tell them everything. These were going to be the two who he was going to explain everything from the beginning. He just wished there was a Fairy Tail mage listening on to this. Well… Erza was here but he didn't think that counted because she was knocked out. "You see…"

He stopped, the air was giving him an eerie feeling that tickled his back bone. Even the two mages from Crime Sorcière were shaken by this odd feeling. Jellal quickly distinguished the feeling to be like Zeref. Which was impossible, Zeref died about a year ago…

It was already night time in the cold blizzard but it seemed that the air turned dark and swirled in on spot like a miniature harmless tornado, The mages were stunned in horror as the atmosphere grew dark and time just seemed to slow down. The air and snow kept spinning until it grew darker and darker and oddly enough, formed a sharp silhouette of a man.

"Well well Dragneel. looks like you're have to hold the conversation until never."

The man emitted an enormous dark energy and stunned everyone silent.

Jellal and Meredy thought it was Zeref for the presence almost exactly matched the feeling Zeref gave off back then. But Natsu knew it wasn't his brother. He met this guy when he died. He knew exactly who this man was.

"It's time you came back to the place you really belong to." The man beckoned to Natsu.

Natsu froze stiff. The man was holding two objects that he wished never really existed at this point of his life. One object was his book -the book of E.N.D to be specific, but he didn't really care about that even though that book literally was his life. The other object was a knife dipped in blood, the little droplets of blood dripping to the snow white ground to become one. Even though it snowed horrifically and the scent was faint, Natsu knew whose blood that was.

"That's Lucy's blood… What the hell did you do to Lucy?" He yelled at the man furiously.

"Don't worry, the descendant of Anna is fine. " The man yawned. "Anyways, in order for this kind of magic, I need to destroy a guild mark and take the blood of a member of that guild. You're just lucky that girl's mark was on her hand and not anywhere… _vital."_

"You still hurt her dammit!" Natsu roared and his whole body lit on fire. Any flake of snow within a radius near Natsu melted instantly. His flames reached the silhouette of the man to reveal the man's appearance.

* * *

Porlyusica was organizing herbs in her little home, when outside her window, she found a small girl sitting on a log outside her house. The old healer rushed outside realizing who that was.

"Mavis?" She gasped.

The first master turned around with lifeless eyes on the verge of tears.

"Fairy Tail… " She whispered as her ghostly body vanished into the air.

Astonished and clueless, Porlyusica dropped the basket of herbs she held on to, and left in the direction of Fairy Tail.

* * *

A long cloak covered his slim but muscular man. Short black hair was ruffled on his head and snowflakes landed on his head to appear his hair was a bit lighter (even though the hair color is black). This man looked exactly like Zeref, but Natsu knew that that was not the case.

Jellal jumped back at response to realizing who this man looked like. Meredy was initially shocked too but smiled comfortably. "Ah, warmth..." And she reached her hands near Natsu like she was next to a furnace. Jellal sweat dropped. This was not the time to act like this…

"Why are you alive?" Jellal hissed at the man. Zeref's magic was no magic to reckon with.

The man smiled at Jellal's question.

"You need not to know. All I will tell you is that I am not Zeref." He turned to Natsu and smirked.

Natsu, already irritated by this guy's appearance but tried his best not to attack. One wrong step would equal death.

The man smiled and clasped his hands. "Let me get to the point. Hand over the Dragon slayer and you all will live."

* * *

"Lucy... Lucy... I'm hungry..."

The celestial mage's eyes twitched, this voice... was that of that annoying CAT!

Immediately, she opened her eyes and sat up, searching for that cat. She was in the room at the inn at Crocus. Good. She slowly analyzed the room from left to right, then the stick of memories smacked her head. That's right. That man stabbed her. But she's alive? She couldn't feel any pain though but she couldn't get this terrifying feeling out of her chest. Slowly, she turned her head to where her hand should be.

It was there. Her hand was attached to her body, all perfectly normal. She flexed her fingers to find no problems there either. "Maybe it was just a dream." She thought out loud. She turned her hand over to see the back of her hand. There was a huge scar in the center of her Fairy Tail mark. Her eyes wide, she just stared at her scarred hand.

"LUCY!"

Snapped out of her thoughts, Lucy turned to the source of the voice. It was under the covers of her bed. "Lucy..." It groaned. If she didn't recognize this voice, she would've screamed. But instead she just glared at the figure as she pulled the bed covers off the bed. "Wake up you indecent cat." She snarled.

"But I'm HUNGRY."

Suddenly the door to her room swung open and the girl that looked somewhat like her appeared with groceries. "Hi Lucy." She greeted with a smile.

Puzzled, she replied with a weak greeting. "Uh... Hi... Anna, right?"

"Oh." Anna rushed to Lucy's side in worry. "Lay down, you're not fully rested yet."

Forced to lay down, Lucy asked "Why are you taking care of me? Wait, before that, what happened to me? Who was that man?" She looked at Anna for answers. "Who are you really?"

Anna was silent for a while. The air around her turned serious.

"Lucy... right now, I need you to live and heal to your best. I'm going to have to burden you with this _gift._ But before any of that, let me explain how this whole mess started."

Lucy was doubtful of this girl.

"Trust me as a fellow Heartfilia, please."

Lucy closed her eyes. This girl better tell her every thing. _Wait, did she just say as a fellow Hear..._

"Aye! I'm here too!" Happy smiled.

The two blondes looked at the chirpy exceed.

 _Yes, happiness. The cure for the inevitable in the future,_ Anna thought.

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Sorry for late update, I had trouble writing this chapter because I didn't know which path this story should take.

Just saying, most of my research on this story is from memory and wiki. Although I was kind of doubting info from wiki when I read the whole 'Maguilty Sense' thing. I didn't remember a spell like that but I just went with it. :P

Keep reviewing :P

To be continued.


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